Dover council discusses CIP, manager expectations list

Thursday

Nov 8, 2012 at 3:15 AMNov 8, 2012 at 9:43 AM

By Michelle Kingstonmkingston@fosters.com

DOVER ­— During a City Council workshop session on Wednesday evening, councilors discussed the Capital Improvements Program broadly and finished correcting the Fiscal Year 2013 Expectations of the City Manager list.

A general discussion of the CIP at the workshop first started with a presentation by Superintendent Jean Briggs Badger and School District Business Administrator Michael Limanni on the education portion of the CIP.

“These are decisions to be made,” Mayor Dean Trefethen said to councilors regarding how they will work together to create a CIP plan and decide how to pay for the plan when budget season comes along. “It is not a perfect system and it does kind of put you between a rock and a hard space, but I think that is the nature of the beast.”

Briggs Badger and Limanni proposed what they believe is necessary within the next six years, which is written in the CIP.

The CIP for education includes facility and school maintenance and repairs, an upgrade to the library system and renovations to the high school. For fiscal years 2014 to 2019, the board hopes to renovate the high school for $23 million, update the Regional Technical Center for $13 million, and set aside $50,000 spread out over the six years in the program for district improvements, including maintenance of facilities, roof and insulation improvements and window replacements.

“We are growing,” Briggs Badger said again to the councilors. From 2012 to 2021, she said Dover schools are projected to add 600 students, but believes the best decision is to renovate, not rebuild.

Trefethen reiterated after the school proposal that at this time, they are only approving a plan. During budget season, they will decide if they are able to afford to pay for the plan they propose.

“Yes, the CIP is a plan,” Councilor Dorothea Hooper said. “We are looking six years down the line on what we feel is necessary ... Don’t be frightened by it ... Just examine it, work with it and see where we go with it.”

Deputy Mayor Robert Carrier said the plan will be a layout in deciding what they can spend. “At least it’s there and it’ll be in front of us,” he said.

The next item on the agenda, City Manager Expectations, comprised of a discussion on the wording of the list of 14 goals the City Council and mayor have for City Manager Michael Joyal. The council scratched the third expectation, on completing the upgrade of airflow quality and air conditioning in Council Chambers. Councilors agreed to meet in the McConnell Center in the hot summer months and use their air conditioning instead of spending the estimated $100,000 to properly install a system in Council Chambers. Aside from this goal, most expectations passed without comment, except to add or take out a word for clarity.

There will be a resolution on next week’s council agenda to refer the CIP to a public hearing and another resolution to formally adopt the list of expectations of the city manager. The council will meet on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers in City Hall.